While I am no fan of the WaPo, this article Tough Times was "sweet" in the telling! Despite Bob Erlich's desperate attempts, the influx of those "shadow" donors, and the Rethug Gov Assoc money flooding our airwaves, along with this terrible, horrible, no good economy...Marylanders are NOT jumping ship and leaving Team O'Malley/Brown behind! We Get it!
Christopher Moylan knows the depths of the recession in Maryland. His wife's employer cut back her billing hours, leaving Lauri with $60,000 less in income. The Towson couple maxed out credit cards to cover their mortgage and living expenses for three kids. At work, he's a collections attorney who has pushed hundreds of fellow Marylanders to the brink, suing them to repay debts. Now he and Lauri have filed for bankruptcy.
Moylan is the voter that former governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) has spent the most time courting and needs desperately to turn his way before Nov. 2 to retake the office. Moylan can answer only "no" when asked the Reaganesque question Ehrlich poses in his latest ad: "Are you better off today than you were four years ago?"
Yet Moylan - like most of the likely voters hit hardest by the recession - says he is backing incumbent Gov. Martin O'Malley (D).
"I think there's a common sense that we are all along for the ride together," Moylan said. "We all bought, we all spent. We all have basements full of Beanie Babies and where did it get us? Besides, Ehrlich's not an outsider, he's the same guy we had. . . . The Republicans don't have any better ideas how to fix this."
We are smart enough to know...O'Malley/Obama didn't get us in to this mess, and it's an uphill climb to get us out!
One: Unemployed and struggling voters aren't hearing Ehrlich's message, but they are hearing O'Malley's. Two: If they understand why Ehrlich says he's running, they don't necessarily believe he can deliver on taxes or jobs. And three: The skepticism seems rooted partly in O'Malley's negative portrayal of Ehrlich's record as governor and his work in the four years since for a law firm connected to oil and banking industries.
"The jobs are why people are so angry - and the health care, and all that," said Katherine Ferrell, 76, a Democrat in Queen Anne's County on the Eastern Shore. A retired "farmer's wife," Ferrell said she's doing what she can to help her daughter and grandson who have lost jobs in construction in the past year. Ferrell said she's seen O'Malley's ads and thinks he's doing well on education and as well as he can on the economy. "People need to give it a chance. It takes time," she said.
There's a thought GIVE IT A CHANCE - IT TAKES TIME! The quagmire we are in was not of O'Malley/Obama's making, and we know and UNDERSTAND that it's going to take a minute ...uhm more than a couple of years, to get us out of it. We have patience!
And to add even SWEETER justice to all of this good news. According to a new Baltimore Sun Poll O'Malley is up by 14 points and his base support is solid.
While the Erlich Campaign is nixing these results...the Baltimore Sun's political blog is reporting that the Rethug Gov Assoc has cut its ad buys in the Metro Washington market...additionally, Po-lack-tico also known as Politico...is reporting that RGA Chair Haley Barber is about to launch his "Remember November" tour of 13 competitive governors races. Guess which state is NOT included in that 13! Maryland WILL NOT BECOME A RED TALKING POINT! I am SOOOOO proud of my state...While We LOVE Crabs...we are not crabby....or crazy! And yes I have been working overtime to GOTV!